Vittal Ramamurthy


Vittal Ramamurthy is a violinist in the Carnatic music tradition of South India. He is a 'Top Ranking' Artiste of All India Radio and has performed in national radio and television, in addition to live concerts.

Musical training

Born in a family of musicians and music connoisseurs, Vittal started his musical journey at home. He started learning Carnatic music from his mother, Krishnaveni, who is the main guiding force in all walks of his life. He was introduced to violin by his grandfather, Late Sangeethabhushanam B.V. Subba Rao. He continued training under Hosahalli Venkataram and T. Rukmini.

Soloist and accompanist

He has performed in 6000+ concerts worldwide. He has accompanied his guru, Lalgudi Jayaraman in his vocal, violin duet
and trio concerts. He has accompanied vocal stalwarts like D. K. Jayaraman, Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, R K Srikanthan, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan, T. K. Govinda Rao, T. V. Sankaranarayanan, K. J. Yesudas, Bombay Sisters and Sudha Raghunathan. He has also accompanied the current generation vocal artistes like Vijay Siva, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Sanjay Subramanian, T. M. Krishna, P. Unni Krishnan, Bombay Jayashri, S. Sowmya and others.
He has also accompanied great instrumental stalwarts like N. Ramani, Kadri Gopalnath, N. Ravikiran, Shashank Subramanyam. He has participated in the World Music Festival in 'Théâtre de la Ville', Paris and other International Festivals in Singapore and Dubai. In addition to his solo recordings, he has accompanied all the popular artistes in hundreds of commercial audio recordings.

Teacher and musicologist

Ramamurthy has students in India, USA, Canada, Australia and France.
As a Musicologist, he has given Lecture Demonstrations and workshops at some major universities like the prestigious Shepherd School of Music, Concordia University and Harvard University.
In his passion for music and selfless contribution to the growth of Carnatic music, Vittal Ramamurthy and family organize summer camps in his native home, 'KARUNBITHIL', Nidle Dharmasthala in Karnataka every year. About 250 children from surrounding villages attend this camp which is in the style of the Gurukulam system. They stay in his house and learn music for a whole week and share it with all their friends. Boarding, lodging and all expenses are borne by Vittal Rammamurthy's family. Eminent artistes are invited to give workshops and concerts to these young musicians. Artistes like Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, M. Chandrasekaran, Vellore G. Ramabhadran, Kamalakara Rao, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Lalgudi Krishnan, Vijay Siva, T. M. Krishna, Bombay Jayashri, S. Sowmya, Abhishek Raghuram, R. K. Shriramkumar, Embar Kannan, Kalyani Sharma, S.P. Ramh, Sankari Krishnan and others have graced the shibira and motivated the students by their teachings. Every year this is the most awaited musical event by all students and rasikas alike. Students flock to this village for the music camp from not only Karnataka and Chennai, but also as far as New Jersey, Texas and California.

Awards